Offense erupts
Riley’s 3-run homer helps Fried, Braves beat Blue Jays 10-1
ATLANTA — Max Fried boosted Atlanta’s depleted rotation by allowing only one run in six innings, Austin Riley hit a three-run homer and the Braves beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-1 on Tuesday night.
The Blue Jays played their first game since Thursday. Their weekend series against Philadelphia was postponed in this virus-interrupted season.
Riley pulled a 3-2 pitch from Matt Shoemaker into the Blue Jays’ bullpen behind the left-field wall in the fifth.
It was the third homer allowed by Shoemaker (0-1), following shots by Matt Adams and Tyler Flowers in the second.
Fried (2-0) was thrust into the role of staff ace when Mike Soroka suffered a torn right Achilles tendon on Monday night, ending his season.
Adams’ homer had a splash landing in the waterfall pool behind the center-field fence.
Flowers’ shot landed in the first row of the left-field seats.
Shoemaker gave up six hits and six runs in 4 2/3 innings in his first start since July 25.
Fried gave up only four hits, including a leadoff double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the fifth. Guerrero scored when Anthony Alford’s ball bounced off Riley’s glove at third base and into left field for a single.
Dansby Swanson’s eighth-inning double off
Wilmer Font drove in Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ender Inciarte, who each had two hits. Adam Duvall and Johan Camargo also drove in runs in the fourrun inning.
Adams left the game with left hamstring tightness after grounding out in the fourth Pitcher Will Smith will pitch in a simulated game at the team’s alternate site on Thursday. Smith has been cleared after testing positive for the coronavirus at the start of the delayed season.
“He feels great,” said manager Brian Snitker.
Slumping second baseman Ozzie Albies (stiffness in his right wrist) was moved down from second to seventh in the batting order. The switch-hitting Albies struck out as a lefthander against left-hander Anthony Kay in the seventh as evidence the wrist soreness is affecting his swing.
Atlanta’s Sean Newcomb will face Toronto’s Hyun Jin-Ryu in Wednesday night’s matchup of left-handers looking for their first win of the season. The Braves need Newcomb to emerge as a reliable starter for a rotation that has lost Soroka and Mike Foltynewicz, who was designated for assignment and now is working at the team’s alternate training site.